The Chief Justice of Madras High Court Indira Banerjee put her foot down on Monday and refused to pass an interim order restraining the State police from insisting on original driving licences from motorists.
Leading the first Division Bench along with Justice M. Sundar, the Chief Justice refused to extend an interim order passed by a single judge on Friday after recording an undertaking given by the State to desist from demanding original licences till Tuesday.
The single judge had passed the order on a writ petition filed by a lorry owners association and directed the High Court Registry to tag the case along with a public interest litigation petition pending before the Division Bench.
However, since the writ petition was not listed before the Bench led by the Chief Justice, as directed by the single judge, the petitioner's counsel urged the Bench to take up the case on Friday and extend the single judge's interim order till then.
Justice Banerjee refused to either extend the single judge's order or pass any fresh interim orders on the issue after observing that every motorist must carry their original driving licences. She later posted both the PIL and the writ petition for further hearing on Friday.